Summary

Creator: Mount Sinai Hospital
Title: Abraham Jacobi Collection
Dates: 1876-1928
Volume: 1 box (4 inches)

Preface

The bulk of this material was gathered by the Office of the Historian and the Director’s Office at The Mount Sinai Hospital.  It was eventually placed in the Mount Sinai Archives and has been combined with other Jacobi material to create this collection. Some information about Jacobi remains in the Historian’s Files.

Biography

Abraham Jacobi was born in Germany in 1830.  While a student, he participated in the revolutionary events of 1848. He received a medical degree from the university at Bonn in 1851, the same year he was charged with treason and imprisoned.  He escaped in 1853 and fled to the United States, first to Boston and then New York.

His accomplishments in medicine were many and he became known as the Father of Pediatrics in this country. He was the first Professor of Pediatrics in the United States, having been appointed to the post at the New York Medical College in 1860. He established the first free children’s clinic there, to help with his teaching. (He later moved to the faculty of Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons.)  In 1860 he also joined the staff of The Jews’ Hospital in New York, known after 1866 as The Mount Sinai Hospital. Here he established the first pediatric department in a general hospital in New York City.  He remained on Mount Sinai’s staff until his death in 1919, serving as President of the Medical Board from 1884-1919. Dr. Jacobi was also associated with the German Hospital (later Lenox Hill) for many years and several specialty children’s hospitals.

Dr. Jacobi was very involved with various professional associations and served as President of the New York State Medical Society, the American Pediatric Society (of which he was a founder), the American Climatologic Society, and the American Medical Association (1912-1913).  He had an international reputation in the world of medicine, and he was sought as a speaker on many topics. He also wrote extensively, and in 1909 an eight volume set of his writings and speeches was created, titled Collectanea Jacobi. A copy of this is in the Mount Sinai Archives.

Dr. Jacobi was married three times, the last union with Mary Putnam, MD.  Both Drs. Jacobi served on the Mount Sinai staff, she as head of the Children’s Clinic and he has Director of the in-patient service. Abraham Jacobi died in 1919, at the age of 89.

Scope and Content

These papers consist of material by and about Dr. Abraham Jacobi and were gathered by The Mount Sinai Hospital over the years due to his importance to the Hospital.  The most interesting component of the collection is the folder of eleven letters, which relate primarily to Dr. Jacobi’s various roles at Mount Sinai, in particular his service as Chairman of the Supervisory Committee of the Dispensary and as the Pediatrician in Chief.   The latter is represented by a letter from ‘several Pacints’ [sic] complaining to Jacobi about the cruelty of the Night Nurse on the ward. There is also an interesting letter from Emil Gruening, MD in 1909 commenting about the problems he has had in the Eye and Ear Department with an unnamed adjunct physician.   There are also two letters where Jacobi offers his assessment of two unnamed patients.

Subjects

• Albany Medical College
• Art
• DeHoff, John B.
• Gruening, Emil
• Mount Sinai Hospital. Nursing
• Mount Sinai Hospital. Dept. of Otolaryngology
• Mount Sinai Hospital. Dept. of Pediatrics
• Nursing history

Container List

Barbara Niss, March 2014